Survey measuring impact of Internet, phone outages

County government and the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County are asking county residents to fill out a quick online survey aimed at measuring the impact of the Internet and phone service outages that began Sunday, Aug. 3 and originated from the Comptche-Ukiah Road area. The survey is located at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/coastoutage.

"The purpose of this data gathering is to assist the alliance, in coordination with county elected leaders, to resolve this connectivity issue for many of the county's residents and prevent it from happening again," said county CEO Carmel Angelo in an Aug. 8 news release.

The Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce urges businesses, institutions and community members to participate.

"The fiber cut last Sunday, about 10 miles inland on Comptche Ukiah Road, created essentially a shutdown of the telecommunications infrastructure on the coast from Elk to north of Fort Bragg. Much of 911 service was disrupted. In addition to the coastal shutdown, we also are hearing reports that the fiber cut caused the failure of the Verizon cellular service in the Laytonville area, thus having a direct impact on the Cal Fire operations at the Lodge Lightning Complex," says a Chamber of Commerce message, which also urges Laytonville-area residents to fill out the survey.

The coastal outage began about 5:30 Sunday, Aug. 3, and lasted until late Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 5.

For more information, contact the county CEO's office at 707-0463-4441.